M&T Bank CEO Wilmers Rails Against 'Astronomical' Banker Pay

M&T Bank Corp.'s (MTB) Chief Executive Robert Wilmers railed against the "astronomical" pay of his fellow bank executives, calling on them to rein in their compensation while singling out the "Big Six" banking "oligopoly" for its outsized paychecks and serial regulatory lapses that continue to shade the public perception of banks.

Mr. Wilmers, who has led M&T for 30 years, issued his stark criticisms in his annual shareholder letter, in which he also took aim at "unnecessarily complex" accounting and new banking rules that amount to "misguided regulatory chemotherapy."

While the Big Six are not named in the letter, Mr. Wilmers confirmed in an interview that the banks are: Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Citigroup Inc. (C), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC).

"The level of executive compensation, despite the questionable performance of the industry through the Great Recession, remains at astronomical levels when compared to the wages of an average American worker," Mr. Wilmers wrote.

Mr. Wilmers received $3.4 million in compensation last year, up 17% from a year earlier.

That's significantly less than his counterparts at the larger banks. Goldman, which hasn't formally released CEO Lloyd Blankfein's full pay details, is expected to pay him $21 million for 2012. That's up from about $16 million a year earlier. Bank of America is paying Brian Moynihan about $12 million for his work last year, up from the $7 million it paid for 2011. Citi CEO Michael Corbat, CEO since October 2012, earned $11.5 million last year.

"I think the whole focus of the sins of the big banks goes to trading. Those six banks do 90% of trading of the 7,000 banks in the United States," he said in the interview.

"The direction of new regulation raises concerns," he said. Many new rules run "counter to the number one priority of government--creation of new employment," he said in the letter.

Errr, uuuh, no Mr. Williams, "the number one priority of government" is not the "creation of new employment".

Premature Fed pullback could "short-circuit" recovery: Bernanke
Reuters ^ | 3-2-2013 | Pedro Nicolaci da Costa

"We pay special attention to developments at the largest, most complex financial firms," Bernanke said.

"He argued banks had gone some way toward repairing their balance sheets since the financial crisis. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported this week that bank profits rose in 2012 to their highest levels since 2006, the year before the subprime mortgage meltdown gained momentum."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2992849/posts

.."the largest, most complex financial firms"...
......guess who?

Now consider insurance CEOs in light of "Obamacare":

Compensation for most health plan CEOs rose in 2011 — to $87 million in total
By Emily Berry — Posted May 31, 2012

"In most cases, pay went up along with company income. The highest-paid executive made 94 times the average compensation level of primary care physicians."

http://www.amednews.com/article/20120531/business/305319997/8/

The Communists took over the means of production in Russia, while in America, the "paper money" corporations have taken over the government and our lives. Doesn't the Dow look great right now?

The top six banks and their executives are in threesome with the Federal Reserve, and the US Government.

M&T is a middle-tier bank who did not need TARP and still makes its money by taking deposits and making loans to business and consumers based on credit worthiness. In other words - a “normal” bank. They were not involved in the housing bubble nor do they trade in derivatives that hit the likes of AIG and Citi

If I were the M&T CEO, I would be angry too, because the Gov’t and FED have basically created an exclusive “Too Big to Fail” club.

Mr. Wilmers received $3.4 million in compensation last year, up 17% from a year earlier. That's significantly less than his counterparts at the larger banks. Goldman, which hasn't formally released CEO Lloyd Blankfein's full pay details, is expected to pay him $21 million for 2012. That's up from about $16 million a year earlier. Bank of America is paying Brian Moynihan about $12 million for his work last year, up from the $7 million it paid for 2011. Citi CEO Michael Corbat, CEO since October 2012, earned $11.5 million last year.

In other words, if he can't get more, they shouldn't get more.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.